Morning journal and courier., 1887-12-31
News by Telegraph FROM ALL QUARTERS. THE ORDER TO STRIKE Disobeyed By The Reading
 EmpIoyes FEW OF THE KNIGHTS QUIT. Germany An Advocate Of
 Peace.
 A REPUBLICAN TARIFF BILL. Heavy Snow Storms In
 The West.
READING HANDS DEspERATE.

READING HANDS DESPERATE, Last Effort To Tie Up the Road l All Knts hts Ordered Out, Hut HUI
 DfspOsltion shown To obey the Ol
 der-The Last Gun To Re Fired TO h Day.
 READING, Dec. 30.-The convention O | Philadelphia and Reading railroad employees which began at eight o'clock last night il
 Excelsior Hall, was in continuous session un til 3:30 this morning, when resolution wa
 passed ordering general strike of the mem bers belonging to the Knights of Labor or 3 the Reading road, with the exception of en
 gineers and other passenger employees
 Streer-crossing men, signal-tower men, flag. men and track walkers are also excepted The question of a miners strike was vigor
 ously discussed, but action was deferred un-
 til after January 1. Chairman John L.
 Lees dealings with the company were indors-
 ed, while the alleged duplicity of certain
 Reading officials was vigorously denounced. ! Just before an adjournment was reached the
 convention decided to offer a reward of
 $2. 900 to be paid by the executive commit
 tee for evidence which shall convict any
 striker of injuring the company's property. |
 to-day.
 | PoTTsvILLE, Pa, Dec 5O.-The announce
 tnent of the action of the Reading convention
 produced sensation here. The irapres-
 sion prevails that the order to strike will by ! no means meet with universal obedienoe l Up to late hour this afternoon there was
 no apparent indication that it has taken | even partial effect At Tamaqua, the point
 of operations of the Mahanoy and Little Schuykill branches, everything was in mo-
 tlon to-day and there is absolutely no change l in the situation there.
 | HARRISBURG, Pa, Dec 3O.-No tronb1e ! has yet been occasioned in this city among ! the employees of the Philadelphia and Read \ ing railroad as 8 result of the disafection | further east It is thought no attention will I be paid to the order to strike issued to-day. WLLIAMsPoRT, Pa, Dec 30-The Read 1 ing employees at this point are all at work this ! afternoon and freight trains are moving as usual. The officials here report everything l in good shape thus far.
 PHILADELPHIA, Dec. 30.-A despatch from Reading, Pa, says: Representatives of local assemblies claim to-day that they were not fairly treated at last nights convention and charge that the convention was packed with delegates from the coal regions bent upon forcing strike. In the language of one of them: ''The Schuylkil1 county men came here red-hot for fight to the finish, deter
 mined to force the two thousand employees of the Reading shops into an unequal contest" During the discussion whether to strike or not Messrs. P. W. Hawman and George W. Reissinger, the dele gates from Reading, counseled conciIiation.
 Anything but strike" was the rallying cry, but all to no purpose. Finally the resolution to strike was carried against the recorded votes of the delegates resAing in this city and the adjournment of the convention speedily followed. Judging by the general feeling here, it is safe to say no attention " a Will ho TOo16 kn flIao and that the action of the convention will prove abortiYe.
 The only sase in this city where train hands are known to have quit work occurred at West Falls this evening when several | freight crews side-trscked their trains and l abandoned them. Crews were at once sent l from this city to take their places and the l police department were asked for protection, fear existing that the new crews would be prevented from going to work. A few officers were sent to the scene, but found that their services were not needed and all l but two of them returned to their district The freight handlers and train men at Will | low street station, who were nearly all mem- bers of district assembly No. 5,S90 most em- phatically denied the statement published | to-day that the assembly had passed resolu- l tions refusing to quit work if ordered to. | When six o'clock came it was generally un- | derstood that the men had not been mo- tifed to cease their labers. All hands dis | persed in their usual quiet way and but little | was said. The night crews reported | promptly and began work shortly l afterwards. A well known engineer | when asked his opinion said "I have gone pretty much among the mem bers of district assembly No. 5,S9O to-day | and from what they have told me am led to | believe that the members of that body would I have gone out if they had been told to do | 50. At this hour think no strike will be | mt OT1 in and hot will have rest for time at least as ma | jority of the Knights do not favor another | uprising"
 Quite sensation was caused during the | afternoon when it became known that James | Gleason, inspector at Willow street | wharf, had received notice from | Superintendent Sweigard that his | services were no longer required by the | company. MT. Gleason was for long time | in the employ of the Reading and his services l were valuable. He is master workman of | district assembly No. 5S90, one of the | strongest bodies in the order, and has been | prominently identified with it's organization. ! MT. Sweigards reason for discharging Mr. | Gleason, it is asserted, was because Of his | deep interest in the revolt against the con- pany. The feeling among the men over the | discharge of MT. Gleason is rather bitter.
 A crisis in the strike will be reached to- | morrow morning if the declared intentions of | the nine local assemblies which are made up | of the entire number of Reading employees in l this city are lived up to. An unusually large l meeting of local assembly 5,890 was held to- night and there were present besides repre- sentatives of the eight other assemblies. The I meeting was enthusiastic and at it's conclu- I sion about midnight it was stated that 5,990 | had resolved to abide by the action of the | Reading convention and refuse to go to | work at 6 o'clock tomorrow morning. The | delegates from the eight other assemblies, it | was said, had pledged their locals to take | similar action. Assembly 5,890 appointed | committee to notify the Reading officials of | their action and this committee will visit the | company's officers for that purpose to-mor- row. The leaders of $500, which | body are the moving spirits in the proposed general action, declare that all the men are firm and have only delayed because they wanted to take | concerted action. They assert that the entire | system, with the exception of the mail ser vice, will be tied up tomorrow. It was also resolved to bring suit against the Reading company for the alleged wilfu1 delaying of | telegrams between this city and points on the company's lines in reference to the pres- ent troubles.
 In their assertions that the road would be blocked with the exception of mails the men | are probably exaggerating. Local assembly l No. 1O, ,235, which was large one and in- l cluded among its membership good portion | of those engaged in the passenger service, | dlsbanded Wednesday and surrendered it's | charter rather than engage in the strike. | These men with quite a number of brother l hood engineers will probably work. It is | said that the order to strike does not include | the passenger service, track walkers or signal | tower men.
 WLKEsBARRE, Dec. 3O.-There will be no | strike of miners in the Wyoming region The l miners here and in this vicinity are not or 1 ganized and of course would not obey the l mandate of the Schuylkill union. Attempts | have been made for some time to get the | miners and laborers to join the Amalgamated | association, but little success is being met | with. No anxiety is felt here at present. The | region is working regularly, the production l of coal is enormous and the miners seem to be happy and contented
 NoRRIsTowN, Pa., Dec 30-To-day ten | employees of the Reading railroad left their | positions on shifters of trains at the round | house and three at Bridgeport All were | promptly discharged and their places filled. l Thirty more RDDlicautR were raadv f0 oyo 4r 1